Assessment of the Quality of Educational Climate During Undergraduate Clinical Teaching Years in the College of Medicine, Taibah University

BackgroundThe undergraduate curricula of medical schools in Taibah University Saudi Arabia, is traditional, like most of the medical schools in the Middle East region. A measure of the educational environment in the college of medicine as perceived by students would assist educators and college administration personnel in gauging the quality of the learning occurring within this important venue.Objectives1)To assess the quality of educational climate during undergraduate clinical teaching years in College of Medicine, Taibah University, AL-Madinah AL-Munawarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 2)To detect problem areas that should be remediated. 3)To compare the gender difference in the perceptions of the educational environment in the clinical teaching stage.MethodsDuring the academic year 2007/2008, the DREEM questionnaire was distributed and collected by the undergraduate student leader of the same year to all 280 females and males’ clinical stage medical students. 4th year, 5th year and 6th year clinical stage students are located at different hospital sites for their clinical teaching. Each hospital site has an undergraduate administrator who distributed and collected the questionnaire. Comparisons between, students’ responses according to their studying years in the college and their gender were taken in consideration.ResultsOne hundred and ninety-six female and male students completed the questionnaire from the total students sample (280) representing a response rate of 70%. There were 109 male out of (150) representing72.6 % and 95 female out of (130) representing 73%: the female students composite 48.5 % of the total responding students, while the male students represented 51.5%. There were no individual areas of excellence (that is no item scored > 3.5). Although the environment was perceived as more positive than negative in both females and males the mean total score was highly statistical significant difference where the score was 113/200 in the females when compared to the males score 107/200. In four out of the five subscales females scored higher than males indicating that the females students appear happier in the clinical stage and the vice versa for the males students.ConclusionThe DREEM provides useful diagnostic information about medical schools, whether it is in developing or western developed countries. The DREEM gives a clear indication of the priorities for reform of the curriculum. These data can also serve as a baseline for a longitudinal quality assessment of student's perceptions of the changes planned for the college of medicine Taibah University, Saudi Arabia.